This invention relates to an improved fluid dispensing apparatus for chemical or agricultural tanks, and more specifically relates to a pivoted, vertically adjustable, and horizontally revolvable, water delivery line that is removably mounted on a tank employed in conventional agricultrual, industrial, lawn and garden spraying equipment.
It is well known to employ tanks having handguns, reels, booms and trailer wheels for spraying applications ranging from high pressure cleaning, chemical treatment of trees and orchards, high volume turf and grounds sprayings, to mobile brush fire fighting. Such tanks are generally constructed of corrosion resistant polyethylene or stainless steel for the purpose of receiving water and treatment chemicals and compounds to be applied as a water solution. These tanks may range from capacities of 100, 150, 200, or up to 2,000 gallons, for example, and generally include a gasoline engine operated pump for delivering a chemical solution from the tank to a spraying nozzle. Some tanks are conventionally mounted on skids for transportation in the bed of a truck while others may be constructed as a trailer unit including tongue, wheel, and axle accessories. Standard equipment for such tanks also includes nylon strainers, suction line valves, transfer fittings, and agitator systems for mixing the chemicals added to the tank with the fluid therein generally water. In place of single line nozzle applicators, some treatment tanks have been provided with manifolds including individual rows of dispensing nozzles mounted to the tank in the fashion of a boom. In any event, as is apparent from the above, a wide variety of spray tanks are available for application in pest control, orchard protection, turf maintenance, and all types of general spraying.
It is also well known that applicator tanks and systems as heretofore described have generally been filled with water and chemicals via an opening in the top of the tank. The chemicals are generally measured out in the desired quantity and fed manually through the feed opening with the aid of a large mouth funnel feeder. Water, on the other hand, has been introduced into the tank by means of a garden hose which is generally inserted through the tank opening and forced to lie against the tank bottom until the desired capacity is reached. The water hose is then withdrawn, the top of the tank closed, and the agitation system energized in order to put the chemicals in solution. Thereafter, the system is put into its spraying applications.
Presently, however, Federal regulations aimed at environmental protection have prohibited the use of garden hoses when used in the above described fashion. This is based on the theory that the city water supply may become polluted by the back-up of chemicals in these tanks into the garden hose water supply during or after filling of the chemical applicator tanks. Such regulations, have accordingly required that any water filling supply system for an agricultural application be provided in a fashion so as not to bring the water feed conduit used during filling of the tank into contact with either the chemicals in the tank or with the resulting solution of chemicals therein. It has been suggested, therefore, that any system used to fill an agricultural tank include some means to mount the water supply externally of the agricultural tank and completely out of contact with the chemicals therein.
The fact that the use of an inserted hose to fill a chemical or agricultural tank is a disadvantage and in fact has been prohibited as noted above, has provided the need for some type of external arrangement for providing a free standing water supply for tanks employed in chemical or agricultural applications. Accordingly, it will be apparent that a free standing and externally mounted water supply system for a chemical or agricultural tank will be effective and that the disadvantages of prior water feeding arrangements for agricultural tanks will be overcome with the present invention. At the same time, the water feeding system of the present invention complies with the regulations prescribed by the Federal Government in the field of environmental protection and pollution control.